Live Rivals, Dead Rivals
by the stargate time traveller
Summary: 'Pre-Rock' The Lagoon Company deal with a rival as annoying as Luak, only more dangerous on a pick-up mission. But not for long.


I don't own Black Lagoon. If I did there would be a lot more.

Please let me know what you think.

* * *

Live Rivals….Dead Rivals.

Revy didn't know how much of this she was expected to take. She had been with Dutch and Benny for a while now, and yet there were still moments where she was torn between relaxing on the job and yet yearning for action. She guessed it was because, on this occasion and others like it, she just wanted more instead of something incredibly boring and pointless. Travelling for hours and hours was not exciting in the least, all her life she had lived her life on a knife-edge where she had _something to do, _but they had been travelling for what seemed like days when it was just a few hours.

Going on a job, particularly a kidnap mission, was always exciting since there was always a glimmer of danger behind it, but Revy found many of the jobs where the crimes had already been committed and Dutch had been given the task of simply picking up whatever bosses like Balalaika or Chang wanted beyond mundane 'cause someone else had done the dirty work and just used the Lagoon company or one of the other pirate gangs to go and pick them up. Revy wasn't sure about those other pirates since many of them were rank amateurs or were just so bone dead stupid it wasn't funny, but she didn't like being used as a glorified postwoman though she knew better than to get on the wrong side of people like Chang or Balalaika; mouthing off about them behind their backs was one thing, but she was no-where near the level they had reached a long time ago.

_A postwoman with a pair of guns, _she thought bitingly.

She was currently sitting in the bow of the boat, idly and slowly slotting in the clip of one of her custom Beretta cutlass pistols. She didn't have anything better to do with her time, and truthfully she wasn't prepared to do anything until they arrived at the ship they'd been sent to rendezvous with.

A long drawn out sigh of boredom escaped Revy's lips while the boat sent up sea spray into her face as it ploughed through the sea. She was bored out of her mind being here on the Lagoon even if it were better than being part of any of the other gangs given Dutch was much fairer than others.

But she was mostly in this pirate gig for the thrills and the action, and the money and the booze were definitely pluses, but most of the time she was forced to sit around on the deck of the boat with nothing much to do except feeling like her brain was melting and trickling out of her skull in great bloody streams.

She was torn right now between pacing around the Lagoon like a caged and angry tiger and just sitting where she was.

There was nothing really exciting about this particular job anyway. It was just another pick-up job where it was unlikely she would need to use her guns anyway, but she wasn't stupid enough to forget them. One of the reasons why it was very rare for any real excitement in this business was primarily because Roanapur was practically quarantined from the rest of the world. Very few ships like cruise liners came close to Roanapur, and even then it was rare for one of the pirate gangs to take advantage of the opportunities such a rarity because it was virtually suicide.

Roanapur was not like Somalian waters. Here, the world was looking down on the shithole through a microscope. The pirates of Roanapur might be able to get away with a raid here and there on a cruise ship, but if it was done too often then fuck knew what would happen. Any pirate who raided and kidnapped anyone for ransom could risk bringing down twenty types of hell onto Roanapur. Revy pushed that out of her mind; she didn't care what happened to Roanapur even if it was technically her home since she had been practically forced to leave the States ages ago for her crimes. There was simply nowhere else for her to go.

But that didn't mean she had to like the place. Like so many other people, Revy would be happy if the place was torn down, nuked, bombed. She didn't care, but at the same time, it was home. Revy sighed, she was bored. There was no other way of describing it, and there was nothing for her to do. She wasn't much of a conversationalist to take her mind off of the trip that seemed to be taking forever, and there was only so much she could do with her guns before she memorised each scratch on her bullets.

"_Revy, get ready. We're almost there," _Dutch's voice came over her headset.

Revy, startled by the sudden and unexpected interruption and annoyed both with herself and with Dutch for the interruption and for being taken by surprise, immediately looked over the horizon. If Dutch was lying to her simply because he had seen that she was bored….

But no. She could see a not-so-tiny speck out there, but she could definitely see the rough outline of a ship that they were drawing closer to.

"I see it," Revy replied shortly into the microphone of the headset before she stood up, wincing from the cramp in her limbs from sitting on the deck for so long in one position without moving around. She performed a few quick stretches to relieve the pain, and soon she was back to her usual self though she remained at the bow and waited for the Lagoon to arrive at the ship.

For the first time since they'd started out on this job, Revy felt some degree of anticipation; granted there wouldn't be anything adventurous about this trip since she and Dutch were both going to board the ship and take possession of the cargo and deliver it back to Roanpaur, but she had been so bored for what seemed like a year this distraction was more than welcome to her.

However as the Lagoon speed closer to the ship, Revy received a sudden and urgent call from Benny though the techie wasn't speaking directly at her the line was open so then she could still hear what he was saying, but it was the urgency in the man's voice that drew Revy's attention the most.

"_Dutch, I'm pickin' up different contacts. They look like boats and are quite close to the ship," _Benny called out. "_There are about five of them."_

Revy frowned before she rushed towards the crow's nest, grabbing a pair of binoculars on the way; if there was trouble she wanted to see it for herself, especially if there was a chance for some action...

"_Are they Navy?" _she heard Dutch ask Benny over the line.

"_I doubt it, Dutch," _Benny replied after a moment of checking. "_They're not talking over the radio, but the ship has just seen us. They're calling for help on all of their frequencies."_

Hearing that made Revy's day; if the ship was calling for help it meant those boats were hostile, and that meant there would be action today instead of some pathetic routine where she would go along with Dutch and finalise the collection of the merchandise before it was returned to Roanapur. When she looked through the binoculars she needed a moment to focus on the boats, but when she could see one of them, a slow but maliciously savage grin spread across her face.

"I can see the boats, Dutch," she spoke over the microphone, not even bothering to hide the anticipation out of her voice, "It looks like they're pirates like us. I dunno if they're from Roanapur or not, but who cares?"

'_Dutch, we're getting a call from them. It's Frost," _Benny reported, adding the name grimly.

Revy breathed in deeply while she chuckled maliciously while her boobs shivered in bloodthirsty anticipation at what was likely to occur.

Frost, like Luak, was one of many pirate captains of Roanapur, and like Luak was a rival to the Lagoon company with a number of boats in a small fleet that he usually used for intimidation whenever he felt the 'client' wasn't being cooperative. Frost was good, even Dutch and Revy were not afraid to admit that, and Frost was one of the dozens of people Revy actually took the trouble and the time to despise. Like Dutch and dozens of others in Roanapur, Frost was a former US soldier, a vet from the Vietnam war who had deserted to live in Roanapur, though there are rumours he had actually slaughtered the men in his team because of a gambling or a drinking problem, or something along those lines though no-one was a hundred per cent certain about the truth. Frost was not talking about his past, so no-one knew for sure.

All anyone knew about the bastard was Frost was good at what he did.

Armed with experience and an eye for business, Frost became a pirate and eventually got his hands on a number of boats with a number of equally bloodthirsty men to back up his threats.

It wasn't long before Frost became a rival to several pirate companies in Roanapur including Luak's own pirate crew and the Lagoon company, but he was highly valued by the other crime bosses. It helped that he was more 'native' than people like Dutch, though Revy often asked herself if one of the reasons behind why he received so many jobs was because of Frost's methods as a pirate.

Bosses like Chin, Chang, and even Balalaika, who were unconcerned with things like fair play, really did not care about how the pirates got their hands on the merchandise so long as it arrived safe and sound, and so they did not blink or bat an eyelid whenever Frost was the one who brought back the merchandise rather than the pirates they'd originally hired.

Like most of the pirates of Roanapur, Frost didn't care who he worked for since they all went for the money, but he also didn't have any problems taking jobs off of other captains without them knowing about it until it was too late.

More than once the Lagoon company had arrived at the rendezvous of various ships they'd been hired to meet to collect from, and more than once Dutch had grown more frustrated because Frost had beaten them to it and was miles from the ships with the cargo safely in his possession for delivery to the bosses. His habits had gotten him into trouble more than once, but Frost had always managed to protect himself with his experience as a former soldier.

Revy herself hated the bastard because she and Dutch had often been caught in fights with Frost and his gang, and once she had been injured by a bullet wound to the arm.

Revy realised she was missing the conversation between Dutch and Frost when she heard the unwelcome voice of the other pirate captain.

"… _this is our charter, Dutch. Go home," _Frost spoke in his typical Texas drawl.

Dutch's voice went lower, even over the microphone Revy could hear the anger, and she grinned to herself. _Now you've done it… _she thought to herself gleefully as she wished she had a bowl of popcorn so she could enjoy the moment. "_Fuck you, Frost. We were sent for this drop-off, and we ain't gonna go back without it."_

Frost replied with a bark of laughter that dripped with disdain, though what he said next was a cascading waterfall of contempt. _"C' mon, Dutch. Look at the numbers. I have __**five **__boats, you've only got the one."_

"_Thanks for reminding me," _Revy heard Dutch's growl over the radio, knowing he wasn't particularly worried. Frost was only making noise.

Over the radio, they could hear Frost's ragged breathing as his impatience rose. The other pirate captain wasn't the most healthy pirate in Roanapur, and they could definitely hear just how bad it was. _"Don't be stupid, Dutch," _Frost warned, his tone losing the mocking humour from a few moments before, replacing it with anger. "_You might have that slut Two-Hands on your boat, but you know my men are tough; why do you think we win so many fights?"_

Revy ground her teeth angrily at the insult, but before she could speak over the radio to shout insults back at the other pirate, Dutch cut in quickly when he sensed the danger. "_You wanna have a fight, you've got one. Fuck you, Frost, but you're not getting this one," _Dutch growled again, and after a moment his voice came back over the radio, "_Okay, Revy. Get ready."_

Revy nodded, knowing Dutch could see it from the windshield of the bridge. "Don't need to tell me twice, Dutch," she replied while she headed to get some heavier weapons; her handguns were powerful, but they wouldn't be good for what she had in mind. "What do you plan to do?"

"_You'll see in a moment, but I won't tell ya until I'm ready; I've heard rumours about Frost, how he has the technology to tap into radios. It's not something that's hard to come by in a place like Roanapur, and if he has it it will explain why the fucker is always a step ahead. Just get your weapons ready, and get yourself ready while you're at it."_

Revy didn't say a word, thinking Dutch had a good point; she had heard about how Frost was always a step ahead of the competition herself, and she had to admit tapping into the radio would be the sort of thing he'd do. In the meantime she was focused on grabbing the weapons she was going to need, grabbing an M79 grenade launcher. After running a professional eye over the weapon to make sure it was in good working order quickly before she grabbed two belts loaded with ammo, and then she grabbed a pair of AK-47 machine guns and grabbed a few clips.

As she worked, Revy couldn't help but wonder at Dutch's strategy. He would probably do his best to take Frost by surprise, but she wondered if Frost would not have already thought of such a move. When she had finished loading her weapons while checking on her own handguns to make sure they were ready for the real work.

Grinding her teeth in anticipation for action, Revy picked all of her weapons up, making sure to keep the sling of the machine guns on her arms while she prepared the grenade launcher while she headed straight for the bow. Already she could feel the acceleration of the Lagoon as the boat sped forwards towards Frost's fleet. She realised that Dutch was deliberately speeding towards Frost's fleet almost on a collision course. The speed made Revy grab hold of the rail and gripped it as hard as she could while she was still holding onto a gun.

"_Revy," _Dutch's voice momentarily surprised her after he had kept off of the air for a good few minutes, and she guessed that whatever it was he wanted to say was already known to Frost already, "_one boat is coming up upon our bow where you are. Give 'em a taste of Two-Hands."_

A slow, bloodthirsty grin spread across Revy's lips, even though she was slightly worried that Dutch might be giving Frost if the other bastard was really listening a bit too much warning; everyone in Roanapur knew she was good with guns, and Frost wasn't really that stupid either since he had made sure the five boats of his fleet were very fast so if Frost told them to get out of the way, they'd have plenty of warning before she even lined the first shot up.

It didn't take long for Revy to find the boat. It was on the right - starboard (honestly, what was wrong with just saying 'left' or 'right'?) - of the Lagoon, and what she saw confirmed her worst fears. Frost had listened in, he did have a tap in the Lagoon's radio, and now the boat which was coming towards them was now veering away.

Revy didn't need to be told twice. She whipped up the grenade launcher and she fired after taking a brief few seconds to line the boat up in her sights. The grenade was launched with a _phutt _noise and the grenade blew up right in the bow. The explosion sent the bow of the boat up with enough force to make the boat 'jump' into the air, sending bits of shrapnel flying through the air before she pulled out one of the machine guns and opened fire on them briefly in a swift and merciless attack without really expending any of her energy before she lowered the gun and released the hold on the trigger.

Revy turned away from the boat was the Lagoon sped towards the others in the fleet, not paying any more attention to the boat she had just shot up. She didn't care or give a thought at the men she might have just killed. Even if one or two of the crew had survived, they wouldn't pose much of a threat floating in the water clinging to their shot up boat.

The other pirates on the other boats were a lot more cautious than their buddies after seeing what Revy had just done, and she only had a few minutes to load the next grenade into the launcher while mentally trying to calculate just how many bullets she'd expended with the machine gun though it was virtually impossible. That was one of the problems she'd always had with machine guns she thought as Dutch took the Lagoon around in circles, darting towards one of the boats here and there, before getting out of the way at the last moment; with the number of shells loaded into the clips and how many were spat out in one burst it was hard to keep count. In the end, she just gave up and readied her weapons anyway while Dutch sped towards the boats.

When they saw the boat approaching, the rest of Frost's pirates tried to get out of the way, but Revy got an idea.

Tapping the microphone on and not giving any more thought about Frost listening in, Revy barked at Dutch, "Get me closer to that one on the right," she pointed at the closest of the boats as the Lagoon swerved around in circles still.

Dutch didn't reply over the radio. He swerved the boat towards the pirate boat Revy wanted him to, but before she could do anything she spotted two pirate boats who seemed to have gotten a second wind or something because they were now creeping up on the Lagoon. The boats were both so close now she could see the machine gun barrels on one of them, and she could also tell they were being made ready to fire.

"Dutch-," she called, but her boss instantly replied before she could say anything more.

"_I know, Revy. Hold on tight."_

Holding onto the rail again with what little grip she could muster in her hands, Revy wondered what Dutch had in mind this time just as the two boats in Frost's little pirate fleet opened fire. Revy gritted her teeth in worry knowing she was a fucking tempting target for the guys manning those machine guns, hoping whatever Dutch had in mind it happened quickly. She got her answer when she was very nearly thrown overboard head first into the water when Dutch put the boat into sharp reverse. Revy winced and wheezed out a breath as the force of the reverse knocked the air virtually out of her lungs, and she had to close her eyes when one of the machine guns smacked into her back, but she quickly worked her way through the pain; if she could survive the various injuries she had endured over the years on top of the shitty childhood she'd gone through in the States, then she could survive a little knock like that.

While she was recovering from being winded, the two pirate boats were shooting themselves up with their high calibre guns, the bullets shredding themselves to pieces. Revy smirked, three boats were done, two to go, but the other pirates in Frost's former fleet were more than aware of the danger they were facing now. And yet Revy couldn't help but feel surprised Frost, who was more competent then assholes like Luak, wasn't better prepared for something like this.

The Lagoon was well out of the range of the final two pirate boats of Frost's now decimated fleet, but Revy didn't need to peer through a pair of binoculars to see they were keeping out of range so they could regroup. Wait… what was that? Revy squinted her eyes as she thought she saw something, and she rushed to grab a pair of binoculars she knew was nearby. When she pressed her eyes into the lenses she needed a moment to focus on one of the boats. It didn't take her long to see something that she genuinely did not like the look of.

She saw a magnified version of Frost through the binoculars with a couple of his men. Frost was dressed in an old US army uniform, and while he was quite heavily muscular his growing belly showed just how badly he had gone to seed. But Revy knew better than to take him for granted by his appearance; Frost was as dangerous as Dutch, and he was not afraid to show just what he could do.

What she saw him holding in his hands was proof of that. Revy's eyes widened and her hands clenched tightly around the binoculars she was holding. In Frost's hands was a bazooka, and a couple of his men were helping the former soldier turned pirate captain load it.

"Dutch!" she yelled into her mike without caring about what Frost was doing; this wasn't the time to worry about the tap Frost had on the radio. "Can you see what I see?"

"_Yeah. Damnit, that bastard!"_

Revy pulled her gaze away from Frost and her eye caught sight of the torpedo launcher mounted onto the boat's deck, and she glared at it. Dutch had installed the fucking thing ages ago, but he hadn't yet found a good enough deal to get his hands on some actual torpedoes. _If only we had just one torpedo, we could finish Frost off before he uses that fuckin' bazooka! _Revy thought to herself angrily, but she knew it wasn't entirely Dutch's fault for not being able to find a good enough deal.

"_Revy, we've gotta get to Frost before he uses that bazooka. Think you can deal with him by the time he's ready?"_

Revy was already at the bow of the boat and was already getting her weapons ready, but she also grabbed hold of the binoculars she'd discarded only a moment ago and she peered through them. "Just get us there, Dutch," she snapped, and her boss didn't need to be told twice since he was already speeding for the two pirate boats.

While she was reloading one of the machine guns and prepped her grenade launcher - she was really going to have to have a talk with Dutch about getting hold of more bigger weapons - Revy juggled the binoculars in her hand, peering through them and she wasn't surprised that Frost and the rest of his men had noticed Dutch's boat speeding towards them, and now they were hurriedly trying to get their bazooka loaded, but they fumbled around trying to get the job done.

The men on the second boat, as far as Revy could see, had decided enough was enough. Frankly, she wasn't surprised to see them speeding off, just wanting to get away from the whole mess. Revy couldn't blame them, but just because they were running away meant she was going to let them leave, and she knew Dutch well enough to know her boss felt the same way. In the meantime she was focused on the boat Frost was on.

The Lagoon Company was now really close to the other pirate's boats, and through the binoculars, Revy could see that Frost and his men had regained some of their composure. They were ready to use the bazooka, making her quickly lower the binoculars so she could gauge the real-world distance between their boats as the distance grew shorter. They were now really close to Frost's boat by now.

* * *

On his boat, Frost was cursing as he and his men frantically worked to load the bazooka. It was his own fault for making sure the weapon was never really loaded, but it was mostly because when he and his men were drunk and stoned off their feet, they were volatile and the boats were their money-makers. They couldn't get paid for their work bringing cargos back if their boats were blown up.

In any case, the bazooka was more of a weapon of intimidation more than anything else; if you were pointing it at a stubborn cruise ship, the crew and the passengers wouldn't realise the fucking thing was unloaded.

He couldn't believe things had gone this far out of control; in Roanapur, having fights as usual but the major bosses which practically ran the city mitigated the worst of the fights, but when the rivalries reached the open sea where their rendezvous was made with the ships, it was fair game and they went all out, but he hadn't expected the Lagoon company to be this good.

Several of his men were furious when they saw the penultimate boat of their small fleet turn around and flee, not that Frost could blame them too much.

"Fuckin' cunts!" one of his men growled, swearing colourfully at the other boat.

"Settle down, boys," Frost growled at them while he and two others concentrated on the bazooka, though he did occasionally lift his head up to glare malevolently at the fleeing boat, promising them a swift though painful death. "We'll get 'em soon enough."

When they had finished loading the shell down the barrel of the bazooka, Frost grinned and looked triumphantly towards Dutch's boat, but his grin faded a little as he saw the boat so close to them he could see the amber brown shade of that bitch's eyes. His eyes widened in horror when he saw Two-Hands lifting up her right arm, and he could see a black barrel.

Frost hurriedly hefted up the massive bazooka to his shoulder, wincing slightly at the weight, cursing himself for letting his body run down the way it had, but he ignored it as he took aim through the sight at the Lagoon's boat. But even as he peered through the target sight Frost knew it was too late.

He saw something spurt from the grenade launcher towards his boat, but Frost didn't have time to fire his bazooka when the world went up in flames, dropping the bazooka to the deck.

* * *

On the Lagoon, Revy blew out a breath over the grenade launcher before she ran back to the superstructure of the boat and then ran back, her feet picking up speed as she took a running leap over the rail, relying on her powerful legs toned by hours and hours of regular exercise to improve her jumping skills to remain in the air long enough to make this work, grabbing onto the hand grips of her machine guns and pointed it at the cooked remains of Frost's boat. The whole crew were rushing about in the throes of a panic attack after Frost's death, and as she hovered for a minute in the air, watching the men for a second to get her strategy in mind, the rival pirates noticed her.

"She's in the air!"

"Get that bitch!"

Revy pointed the guns at the pirates before they could raise their own weapons, and she pulled the trigger, moving the gun around and downing the pirates she could see before she landed nimbly on the deck, firing as she went. She had already shot half of the men on the boat, now that she was actually standing on the deck she didn't give the survivors any quarter.

The last corpse was barely on the ground and was still warm when she picked up the bazooka and looked in the direction of the last of Frost's boat. It was now too far away for her to use the bazooka, but that was no problem.

"I'm going for the last boat, follow and pick me up," she said into her radio and ran towards the wheel before she smashed the barrel of the bazooka through the small windshield of the boat so she could fire it and keep the boat going at the same time.

After getting the engine back on, Revy swung the wheel around and sped towards the last boat. She pushed the engine to the limits - she didn't care what happened to the boat after she was finished with it, and besides after this she'd be back on the Lagoon where this thing would be left to drift the seven seas, forever - and waited as the boat caught up with the last of Frost's fleet.

She was angry the other boat had the head start and was the same speed, but because she was pushing the boat past its limits which caused a lot of strain that even she heard though she didn't care about. But the boat was gaining on the other boat, though the progress was slow and as the chase went on Revy was beginning to wonder if this was even going to work.

It seemed to take forever but the boat eventually caught up with the last boat which held the last of Frost's men, and by that time Revy truly felt as though the boat she was using had had its time. Revy didn't waste time. With some work, she managed to keep her hand on the wheel though it was hard since she wasn't concentrating on the controls while she was looking through the sight of the bazooka, she was still able to control the steering so she could aim the bazooka properly.

"Just a little more to the right…," Revy whispered to herself before she had the target sight where she wanted it, and she pulled the trigger after a brief few seconds to compensate in case the other pirates spotted what she was doing since they were both close together they should be able to see what she was doing, and if that happened they only needed to put on a bit more speed, and then they would get further ahead again, and Revy knew she could never get to them.

She pulled the trigger and the boat was blasted to pieces.

Standing up to her full height, wincing a little bit as she lost the posture she'd been forced to compress her body into while she'd fired that bazooka while steering the boat with just one hand, Revy looked at the remains of the other boat and she turned the wheel to spin the boat around so she was pointing the bow in the direction where Dutch and the ship was waiting for her.

She knew the boat wouldn't last long though truthfully she didn't care, she just wanted to get back to her own boat with Dutch and Benny.

"Dutch," she said into the radio, "are you on your way to pick me up?"

"_Yeah, but I've had to tell the ship's captain they've gotta hang around for a little bit longer while we pick you up. But luckily he's reasonable enough to do it. We'll be there in a few minutes, but you've got one helluva good start on us."_

"Yeah," Revy replied, turning her head around slightly in the direction of the destroyed boat she'd just blown up. "So did they."

* * *

A few hours later Revy was once more sitting on the deck of the Lagoon, though she was a lot more centred than she had been earlier during the day when they'd been speeding towards the ship. When Revy had been picked up by Dutch and Benny, they'd returned to the ship where they'd picked up their cargo, their charter.

The ship's captain revealed that he'd had refused to give Frost's pirates the cargo. Ordinarily, most captains who smuggled goods to Roanapur for delivery by pirates wouldn't have given a shit, but some captains knew they, not all pirates around here originated from Roanapur, and so they knew if bosses like Balalaika didn't get what they wanted, they would lose a lot of their business.

Frost and his men had been threatening the crew and the captain for the best part of an hour by the time the Lagoon company had arrived, and his gratitude was one of the reasons why he was so patient with them over fighting with Frost and Revy's chase of that last boat. After returning with Revy, it took another hour for the pirates to get hold of the cargo with a receipt before they headed back to Roanapur.

As she sat on the deck, Revy was glad of the action she'd had today, but now she was looking forward to getting paid for a good day's work, and if she wasn't then the world would be missing one boss.


End file.
